Is Catfishing Ethical?

No one will care if you lie about your appearance, what really matters is your personality, right? This is something that may go through a catfishers mind when creating a social media profile. Catfishing allows people to lie about aspects of themselves, typically their appearance, in order to mask their insecurities and find a life partner.

An important area in the study of ethics is the ethics of care, which focuses on relationships and caring for others (Chave, 2019) rather than a universal set of morals. It may be easy for the catfisher to justify lying to their partner under the guise of the ethics of care, as they love and care for the individual. Furthermore, many of the perpetrators believe that they are coming from a good place when catfishing (Purcell & Stroud, 2018) but they fail to acknowledge their insecurities and self-interest; while ignoring the ethical issues of catfishing. In order for the ethics of care to apply and deem the relationship ethical, the catfisher would need to have their partner's best interests at heart; fabricating who you are is deceitful and self-serving; therefore, being unethical. Regardless of the justification for catfishing, it is ethically wrong.

Catfishing puts every party in an unfortunate situation. The relationship, having built on lies, will likely not be successful and may cause lasting effects. The catfisher, having masked their real identity, is now left to deal with their insecurities; which are likely worse as a result of pretending to be someone else. The catfishee is left feeling betrayed and heartbroken and now has to deal with those long-lasting feelings at no fault of their own. Those involved may develop trust issues and have a hard time in future relationships and further self-development. Overall, catfishing affects all parties negatively and causes irreversible damage.

Catfishing is ethically wrong. Not only does it affect the relationship at hand but it affects the people involved indefinitely.

Chave, S. (2019). Feminist Ethics of Care: A starting Point — Ideas from Carol Gilligan. University of Exeter. Retrieved from http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/deepmaterialism/2019/03/28/feminist-ethics-of-care-a-starting-point-ideas-from-carol-gillingan/

Purcell, A., & Stroud, S. R. (2018). To Catfish or Not to Catfish? Media Ethics Initiative. Retrieved from https://mediaethicsinitiative.org/2018/11/15/to-catfish-or-not-to-catfish/